Zoom's popularity drives the company's CEO to reach the list of billionaires for the first time in 2020

To adapt to the new reality brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, many people turn to Zoom, whether to keep in touch via telework, take classes or speak with family and friends. The popularity of the online platform has grown exponentially since the start of the crisis, so much so that Eric Yuan, the company's CEO, has become part of Forbes' annual list of billionaires.

Although the person responsible is at number 293 of the list of the North American publication, the value of his assets is around 5.3 billion dollars. The CEO has been working in the videoconferencing area since he emigrated from China to the United States in 1997. Even before he founded Zoom in 2011, Eric Yuan worked for WebEx, prior to his acquisition by Cisco.

The company led by Eric Yuan has not yet shared concrete information about its growth, however, the latest data from Sensor Tower indicates that, in the United States, Zoom leads the list of free applications with more installations. Also on March 23, the company's shares on the New York Stock Exchange registered an increase of 135%, closing at 159.56 dollars each. However, the very next day, Zoom's share on the stock exchange started to fall, and today its share price is around 113.75 dollars.

Zoom has been dealing with several cybersecurity issues. In a CNN interview, Eric Yuan admitted that the company had some drawbacks, indicating that Zoom was initially designed for organizations and companies. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, we are moving too quickly, said the CEO.

New York State recently decided to ban the use of the videoconferencing platform, given the various complaints of issues regarding security and privacy issues during the registration process.

The FBI itself warned of the dangers of cybersecurity linked to communication services like Zoom, with several conference complaints being interrupted by pornographic or threatening messages. In March, the platform was accused of sharing analytical data with Facebook, even if users did not have an account on the social network.